This invention relates to a tool for securing a connector onto a cable and, in particular, a hand held and operated tool for crimping the sleeve of a cable connector onto coaxial cable or the like.
Crimping tools for securing connectors to electrical or communication cable have been used for many years. In the instances where a tubular connector sleeve slips over the outside of the end of the cable, the tools have generally been designed with crimping jaws which utilize die surfaces to plastically deform the sleeve onto the cable end to create a tight compression fit. These tools are widely used not only in the manufacturing of cables, but also by service people installing cable or the like. Hand held and operated crimping tools which have normally been used by such service people have generally not been able to crimp and form the connector sleeve onto the cable end with great precision. Precision in crimping and forming the connector is desirable in more critical applications such as where the finished connection must be waterproof. For typical cable connectors, such as those for 50 or 75 ohm coaxial cable or the like, the tolerance of the final crimped diameter of the connector sleeve may be required to be no more than about 0.001 inches.
Prior art crimping tolls have not been able to consistently meet the requirements for precision crimping by hand of tube type connectors onto cable ends. Such crimping tools, some of them being hand held and operated tools, are exemplified in U.S. Pat. Nos. 576,503, 2,696,747; 3,284,885; 3,438,407; 3,484,922; 3,487,524; 3,504,417; 3,557,429; 3,711,942; 4,590,786; 4,630,462 and 4,829,805, but these tools are not useful for hand crimping a slip-over, tube type connector into a precise, uniform diameter.
Bearing in mind the problems and deficiencies of the prior art, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a tool for crimping a cable connector onto a cable which produces a uniformly round diameter, tight fitting connector sleeve over the cable end.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a cable connector crimping tool which has the ability to make a water tight connection between the connector and the cable.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a tool for crimping a cable connector onto a cable which produces a precise, predetermined diameter on the crimped and formed connector sleeve.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a hand held and operated tool which meets the above objects.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a hand held crimping tool which is easy to use yet precise in operation.